Several hard surface cleaning compositions are known which employ various constituents and have various utility. Many of the presently available compositions are unsatisfactory and difficult to use for a number of reasons. Some of the compositions are effective on limited numbers of surfaces, others involve the handling of hazardous or toxic solvents or other components, and still others have relatively low flash points. The requirement for the use of special storing and application techniques, or the requirement that surfaces be prepared in a special manner prior to treatment represent important considerations in the use of many of the known compositions.
It is well known to include silicones or siloxanes in various cleaning compositions either together with abrasives or with acid components. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,122 to Domicone et al. and in Canadian Patent No. 843,388 to Hyde abrasive silicone-containing cleaning and conditioning compositions are disclosed. While these compositions are effective for cleaning and conditioning glass-ceramic surfaces, they have certain unsatisfactory properties as well. When the compositions contain a soluble alkaline metal silicate they are useful for cleaning glass-ceramic surfaces which have been stained, but the surface maintains and develops a stubborn stain over a period of time. If an analogous composition is utilized which is free of the soluble, alkaline metal silicate, it is effective for protecting the glass-ceramic surface without causing further stain but it also lacks the cleaning power to remove the old stain.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,095,381 to Tinnon et al. a hard surface cleaning composition is disclosed which contains an alkyl-substituted tertiary acetylenic hexynol which additionally contains an organic solvent, isopropyl and diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, as well as non-volatile surfactants. U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,168 to Requejo discloses a hard surface cleaning composition containing an organic polar solvent, a volatile organosiloxane and a surfactant which is an acetylenic alcohol or diol.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,540 to Ohlhausen discloses a water repellant composition for use on non-porous substrate surfaces. The disclosed composition contains a mineral acid and an alkylpolysiloxane, which produces a strongly adherent and durable water repellant film upon the substrate following application.
In U.S. Patent No. 4,124,523 to Johnson an aqueous, acidic composition is disclosed which contains polydimethylsiloxane, water, acid, an abrasive and colloidal silica together with an non-ionic surfactant. This composition is an aqueous solution which has abrasive cleaning and consitioning properties but which is not quick-drying.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,759 to Young et al. discloses a water-based acidic cleaning composition which contains acid, a detergent and a polysilicone. This composition is disclosed to produce an acid-stable emulsion which may be used as a cleaning composition. Various organic and inorganic acids are utilized in the disclosed composition such as oxalic acid or sulfamic acid.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,579 to Nakasone et al. an aqueous acidic cleaning solution is disclosed which utilizes a furanor tetrahydrofuran carboxylic acid compound. This patent states that oxalic acid, while an effective spot remover, has a very high toxicity and a high skin penetrating property and therefore the use of compositions containing oxalic acid is said to be undesirable. Other cleaning compositions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,608 to Maurice and U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,622 to Gavin; these patents disclose cleaning solutions which contain polysiloxanes and/or acid components.
The cleaning solutions disclosed above are aqueous-based, and thus not quick-drying, or contain an abrasive. These compositions do not provide effective cleaning together with imparting water resistance and shine to the applied hard surface. The present invention relates to a solvent-based composition which successfully overcomes or at least minimizes these difficulties, and which also has a relatively high flash point.